RRND Email Full Text (Scheduled)

  • US regime charges Southern Poverty Law Center over payments to informants

    Source: BBC News [UK state media]

    “US officials have announced fraud charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights group that tracks extremist organisations and played a prominent role in confronting the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). In a news conference on Tuesday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche accused the non-profit of secretly funding the very groups that it says it opposes, through paying informants who infiltrated them — including within the KKK. An indictment charges the SPLC with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The organisation’s president has said they would ‘vigorously defend ourselves, our staff, and our work.'” (04/22/26)

    https://archive.is/1GOB4

  • UK: Bill would ban anyone born after 2008 from every buying tobacco

    Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]

    “A new bill approved in the United Kingdom’s legislature will stop people born on or after January 1, 2009 from buying tobacco during their whole lives, as part of a years-long effort by ministers to create a ‘smoke-free generation. Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting introduced the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in the House of Commons in 2024 …. The bill will become law when it receives a royal assent next week. Once it does, ministers will also have new powers to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, including their flavours and packaging. They will also be able to ban nicotine products from being branded and advertised to children. Vaping will also be prohibited in playgrounds, cars with children inside, outside schools and hospitals, in an effort to expand smoke-free zones across the UK.” (04/22/26)

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/22/new-uk-bill-bans-anyone-born-after-2008-from-buying-tobacco

  • CO: Federal Immigration Thug Charged With Assaulting Protester

    Source: New York Times

    “An immigration officer in southwest Colorado who was caught on video grabbing a protester by the hair and hurling her down an embankment last October was charged with assault and criminal mischief on Tuesday, the local district attorney said. The case against the officer, Nicholas Rice, is one of a handful in which local prosecutors have filed criminal charges against federal agents carrying out President Trump’s immigration crackdown. It comes five days after local prosecutors in Minneapolis charged an immigration agent with assault after motorists said he had brandished a gun at them. Sean Murray, the district attorney in the mountain town of Durango, Colo., said he had charged Mr. Rice with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and criminal mischief. He said Mr. Rice was charged through a summons, not an arrest warrant.” (04/22/26)

    https://archive.is/bXNkw

  • Nigeria: Tinubu replaces finance minister in surprise reshuffle

    Source: Semafor

    “Nigerian President Bola Tinubu replaced his finance minister, the architect of a radical economic policy overhaul, less than a year before elections in a surprise reshuffle. Wale Edun, a former World Bank official and investment banker, was replaced by Taiwo Oyedele, a junior finance minister who oversaw a revamp of the country’s tax system, in Tinubu’s most high-profile cabinet reshuffle since taking office three years ago. It was not immediately clear, however, if the move marked a change of direction at the finance ministry. Edun’s tenure has been marked by an aggressive push to overhaul sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest economy after two recessions within a decade, leading to an uptick in foreign direct investment inflows. However, Nigeria’s debt burden has shot up thanks to increased government spending.” (04/22/26)

    https://www.semafor.com/article/04/22/2026/nigerias-tinubu-replaces-finance-minister-in-surprise-reshuffle

  • Renewable energies overtook global electricity demand last year, led by solar growth in China, India

    Source: Associated Press

    “Record growth in solar, especially in China and India, was a driving factor for clean energy sources surpassing the world’s strong demand for electricity in 2025, according to a new global power analysis. Clean power generation grew 887 terawatt hours last year, exceeding overall global electricity demand growth of 849 terawatt hours, according to a report by energy think tank Ember, released after midnight Tuesday London time. Ember analyzes electricity data from 215 countries, and studied 2025 data for 91 countries, which the firm says represents 93% of global demand. Overall, the share of renewables — including solar, wind, hydropower and other clean energies — hit more than one-third of the world’s electricity mix for the first time in modern history last year, growing 33.8% to 10,730 terawatt hours.” (04/21/26)

    https://apnews.com/article/climate-renewables-clean-energy-china-india-solar-electricity-demand-c412207bc332c5e0f904030ab21389e7

  • Amazon launches GLP-1 weight loss program, promising “fast, convenient” access

    Source: CNBC

    “Amazon is pushing deeper into the booming weight loss market, unveiling Tuesday a new program that aims to simplify access to popular GLP-1 treatments. The company said its primary care arm, Amazon One Medical, is launching a GLP-1 management program that integrates obesity treatment into routine care. The offering combines virtual and in-person visits, prescription management and pharmacy fulfillment, positioning weight management as a long-term chronic condition rather than a one-off prescription. … Through Amazon Pharmacy, patients will be able to access medications including Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy as well as newer oral GLP-1 options. Insured pricing will start as low as $25 per month, Amazon said. For cash-paying patients, oral drugs start at $149 per month, it said.” (04/21/26)

    https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/21/amazon-glp-1-weight-loss-program.html

  • Lufthansa axes 20,000 “unprofitable” flights to save jet fuel

    Source: Politico

    “Lufthansa is ending 20,000 short-haul routes across its network through October to achieve ‘jet fuel savings of more than 40,000 metric tons,’ the airline announced on Tuesday. Jet fuel costs have ‘doubled since the outbreak of the Iran conflict,’ Lufthansa said. The move follows last week’s decision to retire the entire 27-aircraft fleet of its subsidiary CityLine ahead of schedule amid surging fuel costs and tightening supply. The airline said the first 120 flights were canceled on Monday.” (04/21/26)

    https://www.politico.eu/article/lufthansa-axes-20000-unprofitable-flights-to-save-jet-fuel


  • The Government Failed at Bondi, Now It Punishes the People

    Source: Brownstone Institute
    by Andrew Lowenthal

    “n December 14, two ISIS-affiliated gunmen massacred 15 unarmed civilians at a Hanukkah festival at Bondi Beach, the icon of Australia’s breezy way of life. Just three police officers guarded the festival. One of the shooters, Naveed Akram, had come to the attention of the Australian security services in 2019, and yet in 2020, his father, an Indian-born non-citizen, was able to legally purchase multiple firearms. Just weeks before their murder spree, the father and son duo spent nearly a month in the Southern Philippines, a hot spot for Islamic terrorism. … To cover for their incompetence, the government is now proposing a host of laws to restrict speech, protest, and gun ownership (Australia already has some of the world’s strictest gun laws).” (04/22/26)

    https://brownstone.org/articles/the-government-failed-at-bondi-now-it-punishes-the-people/

  • New Partnerships in Asia

    Source: Foundation for Economic Education
    by Jake Scott

    “In February 2026, Indonesia and Australia signed the Treaty on Common Security (‘the Jakarta Treaty’), a commitment to developing joint training facilities in Indonesia, increased cooperation and information sharing, and consulting on security matters at ministerial level between the two countries. But in the last two months, this already important agreement gained greater significance, as it has expanded to include Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Japan. It seems that a new security paradigm and new trade partnerships are emerging in the Pacific.” (04/22/26)

    https://fee.org/articles/new-partnerships-in-asia/

  • War has significantly altered major Trump meeting with Xi

    Source: Responsible Statecraft
    by Lyle J Goldstein

    “Rather than a clash, these titans are likely tempered by the Middle East war. The question, who now has the better advantage?” (04/22/26)

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-xi-summit/

  • Why America Stopped Annexing Territory

    Source: Law & Liberty
    by Mark Kawar

    “When Donald Trump first suggested that the United States should purchase Greenland, the reaction in Washington was disbelief mixed with ridicule. The United States, it had seemed, long ago settled its borders. Territorial expansion belonged to a different era. Yet in the longer arc of American history, expansion has been quite normal.” (04/22/26)

    https://lawliberty.org/why-america-stopped-annexing-territory/

  • From Fatal Conceit to the Friendly Skies: How Deregulation Made Flight Affordable

    Source: The Daily Economy
    by Jeffery L Degner

    “For decades, federal regulators controlled airline prices and routes, limiting competition and keeping fares high. The Airline Deregulation Act changed everything.” (04/22/26)

    https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/from-fatal-conceit-to-the-friendly-skies-how-deregulation-made-flight-affordable/

  • Rothbard Was Right: Libertarians Must Never Warm to the Warfare State

    Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
    by Connor O’Keeffe

    “In 1977, Murray Rothbard wrote an article in response to an issue of Reason Magazine where the main feature of the month was a debate between interventionism and non-interventionism. The bulk of the 3,000-word article is spent tearing apart the two pieces by alleged libertarians who are advocating an interventionist foreign policy. But, before he dives in, Rothbard devotes some time to attacking the idea that this should even be up for debate within libertarian circles at all …” (04/22/26)

    https://mises.org/mises-wire/rothbard-was-right-libertarians-must-never-warm-warfare-state

  • Replacing student loans with sponsorship

    Source: Adam Smith Institute
    by Madsen Pirie

    “Please excuse me for returning yet again to a solution to the UK student loans system. At present, graduates are burdened with debt that can climb, despite repayments, because of interest charges. It would be difficult for taxpayers to fund student costs, given that it would involve poorer people (for the most part) paying higher taxes so that those less poor could be given access to higher incomes in later life. The money has to come from somewhere, but if not from students themselves or taxpayers, then from whom? The obvious answer is business sponsorship of students.” (04/22/26)

    https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/replacing-student-loans-with-sponsorship

  • Led by Republicans, Americans’ Support for NATO Fades

    Source: Reason
    by JD Tuccille

    “President Donald Trump’s doubts about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) date back at least to the 1980s, when he took out full-page newspaper ads questioning the value of defending prosperous allies capable of paying for their own security. So, when he voices frustration with the alliance and the lack of support among its members for the U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran’s theocratic regime, it’s not a new development. What’s new is growing disenchantment with NATO among Americans, led by the president’s Republican supporters.” (04/22/26)

    https://reason.com/2026/04/22/led-by-republicans-americans-support-for-nato-fades/

  • A Palantir Manifesto

    Source: Libertarian Institute
    by Alan Mosley

    “Palantir CEO Alex Karp’s book, The Technological Republic, is a clarion call for Silicon Valley to abandon its consumer trinkets and rush headlong into the arms of the military-industrial complex. According to Karp, America’s future depends on wielding hard power through technology — arming soldiers, AI-weaponry, and mass surveillance systems — rather than on the ‘soft’ influence demonstrated by free markets and liberty-first principles. The book claims that ‘the survival of the American experiment depends on the technological revitalization of the military-industrial complex’ and urges the country’s engineering talent to focus on national defense. … This techno-militarism dressed up as patriotic duty presumes that concentration of power in the state and its corporate allies (isn’t there a word for this?) is not only desirable, but morally required.” (04/22/26)

    https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/a-palantir-manifesto

  • On Mass Surveillance, Will the Deep State Win Again?

    Source: The American Conservative
    by Harrison Berger

    “When the NSA responded to [Tucker] Carlson’s 2021 allegation that the agency had been monitoring his communications, it said only that he had never been an intelligence ‘target,’ a carefully lawyered denial that conspicuously avoided saying his communications had never been queried under programs like FISA Section 702. The NSA’s response was also unusual since three-letter agencies typically neither confirm nor deny whether any specific individual’s communications have been collected. On how Trump, another documented victim of FISA abuse, and Johnson, who built his political identity around opposition to FBI overreach, both ended up as the leading advocates for a clean renewal of those spying powers, Carlson pointed to institutional capture and coercion.” (04/22/26)

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/on-mass-surveillance-will-the-deep-state-win-again/

  • The critics are wrong about Tennessee’s Charlie Kirk Act. Here’s why.

    Source: Expression
    by Michael Hurley

    “Imagine you’re a professor who disagrees with your university’s indigenous land acknowledgement, so you write your own as a joke — and then your school investigates you for ‘unacceptable’ and ‘inappropriate’ speech. Or imagine you invite a controversial former Black Panther to speak on campus, so your university forces the event online. These are real stories, and FIRE’s archives are full of plenty more just like them. But thanks to a new measure passed in Tennessee, the university’s actions in cases like these wouldn’t just violate the First Amendment, but state law, too.” (04/21/26)

    https://expression.fire.org/p/the-critics-are-wrong-about-tennessees

  • The Paris Agreement was a fantasy

    Source: UnHerd
    by Thomas Fazi

    “Remember the Paris Agreement? Signed a decade ago today, it was hailed as a historic milestone in the fight against climate change, with practically every country promising drastic action to keep global warming below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels. And, at the time, the stakes couldn’t have felt higher. As Western politicians and activists endlessly warned, unless carbon emissions were urgently and drastically reduced by 2030, climate change would have apocalyptic consequences, potentially extinguishing humanity — if not all life on Earth. … Ten years on, then, one cannot help but ask: did the Paris Agreement, and the broader UN Conference of the Parties (COP) process, actually achieve anything?” (04/21/26)

    https://archive.is/deyma

  • It Can’t Happen Here! Or Can It?

    Source: The Jolly Libertarian
    by Marco den Ouden

    “[Douglas] Kelley was brought in to assess the 22 Nazis charged with various war crimes and crimes against humanity to assess their mental health to see if they were fit to stand trial. It’s an engrossing story And even though we know the substance of the story, the horrors of the holocaust and the death sentences accorded eleven of the defendants, the reality of this horrific time in history is brought home with the documentary footage of the liberation of the extermination camps. They were shown at the original trial in 1946 and are shown in the film [Nuremberg]. But the bulk of the movie and the focus of the story is the relationship between Kelley and the prisoners. Kelley, a well-credentialed very knowledgeable psychiatrist, set out to find out what made these Nazis tick.” (04/21/26)

    https://jollylibertarian.blogspot.com/2026/04/it-cant-happen-here-or-can-it.html

  • Let us hang on to our turbulent priests

    Source: spiked
    by Bijan Omrani

    “Of course, no one wants an overbearing church, like the 12th-century papacy, locked in a bloody struggle with secular authorities. We are not calling for heavies to chase after archbishops, or Keir Starmer, like Henry II, to be whipped by monks through the streets of Canterbury in his underclothes for his manifold offences (the prime minister would surely find such a prospect displeasing). But spats like that between Trump and Leo show that the church is contributing to political debate in a way that other actors are not able to manage. The frequent fury directed towards the church and Christian advocates demonstrates that their messages – even in this apparently post-Christian age – are still able to pique the conscience.” (04/21/26)

    https://archive.is/55Ngm

  • The New Muckrakers Find Who’s Gouging California’s Drivers

    Source: Independent Institute
    by Craig Eyermann

    “Over ninety years ago, muckraking author Upton Sinclair ran a failed campaign to become California’s governor in 1934. He later recounted the experience in his very forgettable book, except for one quote, ‘I, Candidate for Governor, and How I Got Licked.’ The one quote that stands out in Sinclair’s account of his campaign stumping is this one: ‘It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!’ There is perhaps no better quote to understand California’s politicians.” (04/21/26)

    https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/21/whos-gouging-california-drivers/